Date: Saturday 5th February 2022
Venue: Craik Park, Morpeth Common, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 2YX
Kick Off: 3pm
Competition: Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division
Highlights: Highwaymen TV
The Highwaymen play host to Nantwich Town on Saturday at Craik Park.
History
Founded in 1884, Nantwich has a long and proud football tradition. Early years were spent playing friendly and cup matches but in 1891 the club joined the Shropshire & District League, finishing as runners-up in the first season.
Nantwich moved into the stronger Combination the following season and on 15 October 1892 hosted Liverpool in the Merseysiders’ first ever FA Cup match (Liverpool won 4–0). Before the First World War, Nantwich also had spells in a variety of leagues including the North Staffs & District, the Crewe & District, Manchester and Lancashire Combination leagues.
In those early years, the club were honoured to have A.N. Hornby as President. Hornby captained England at rugby and cricket and, as well as being President, turned out for the club on a number of occasions.
After the war, the club became founder members of the Cheshire County League in which they were perennial strugglers, though they did finish 6th in 1921–22. The season before, a record home attendance of 5,121 watched the Dabbers play Winsford United in the Cheshire Senior Cup at their temporary home at Kingsley Fields. Ironically, this is the location where the club is now looking to build a new modern stadium and move to for the 2005–06 season.
Success, though, came in the Cheshire Senior Cup in 1933 when the Dabbers lifted the trophy after beating ICI (Alkali) at the Drill Field, Northwich in front of 8,000 fans. After the Second World War, the Dabbers joined the newly founded Mid Cheshire League and in 1952, the club entered the inaugural FA Youth Cup competition. Drawn against Manchester United in the second round, the young Dabbers crashed 23–0 on a November evening at the Cliff training ground to a United youth line up including names such as Duncan Edwards, David Pegg, Albert Scanlon and Ron Cope (who joined Nantwich in the twilight of his career).
However, the mid-1960s saw considerable success and in the 1963–64 season the club completed a treble, winning the Mid Cheshire League, League Cup and Cheshire Amateur Cup under manager Alan Ball (senior).
Nantwich rejoined the Cheshire League in 1968 and in 1976 the Dabbers beat NPL champions Runcorn 5–4 in the Cheshire Senior Cup Final at Gresty Road in front of 2237. Five years later in May 1981 a crowd of 1078 saw Nantwich clinch the Cheshire League by beating eventual runners up Hyde United in the penultimate game of the season 2–1.
1982 saw Nantwich become founder members of the North West Counties League. Unfortunately Nantwich had the unenviable honour of finishing bottom and were relegated to Division 2 where the club remained (except for one season in Division 3 in 1986) until 1989 when the Dabbers were promoted to Division One. Since then, Town have maintained consistent mid-table form. The one exception was in 1993–94 season when they finished in their highest ever NWCFL placing of fourth. However the honours were to come on the cup front in 1994–95 when Nantwich defeated Trafford 1–0 in the League Cup Final on a memorable April evening at Gigg Lane Bury. This success atoned for the disappointment in 1993 when at the same venue Nantwich lost 2–1 to Burscough in another tight final. Ex-Stoke City player Nigel Gleghorn was appointed Manager in November 2001 and he helped steer Nantwich to a top six finish in 2003, when the club also attained the prestigious FA Charter Standard Community Club award.
The 2017/18 season saw Nantwich get to the 1st round of the FA cup for only the 2nd time in their history. They beat City of Liverpool FC 2–1, Shepshed Dynamo 1–0, Nuneaton Town 3–1 and Kettering Town 1–0 in a replay. They lost 5–0 in the first round to Stevenage F.C.
After a 16th place finish in the League, Nantwich moved on to their second consecutive Cheshire Senior Cup final, where they picked up a 3–0 victory against Stockport Town to claim their fifth Senior Cup.
Nantwich finished fourth in the Northern Premier League table in the 2018/19 seasib, their second-highest finish in the league, and missed out on promotion after suffering defeat to Warrington Town in the play-off semi-final. They also claimed their second consecutive Cheshire Senior Cup, beating North-West Counties Football League outfit Cammell Laird in the final 5-2. The run saw them claim scalps of three higher-division sides, with wins at Gresty Road against Crewe Alexandra, and at home against Chester FC and Stockport County.
Last Match
Morpeth lost their Northumberland Senior Cup tie on Tuesday evening when Blyth Spartans were victorious at Craik Park. The only goal of the game came on 70 minutes with Connor Thompson finding the bottom corner.
The Dabbers lost out in their Cheshire Senior Cup tie on Tuesday evening when they suffered defeat at the hands of Stockport County. Tommy Montefiori fired Nantwich into an early lead. Alex Reid grabbed a late brace to ensure the National League side progressed.
